Becoming a helicopter pilot?

At Rotor & Wings you are at the right place on your way to becoming a helicopter pilot. Flying is in our DNA and we love to share our experiences with you. From private pilot to making helicopter flying your profession, we offer you an education that suits you. Professional, safe and enjoying what you do is the base for all of our activities. We distinguish ourselves by providing custom solutions. We work with flexible training times and we sit down together to work out what suits you best. Our simulator in Lelystad gives us a low-cost training opportunity.

Former students work, amongst other companies, at CHC, Bristow, SAR, HTM and NHV.

Flying training

A pilot training education always consists of a combination of theory and practical training. Rotor & Wings offers modular courses. In our experience this makes it easy to combine the pilot training with a regular job. To get your license you will need to pass a medical exam. To make sure this won't stop you further down the road, it might be a good idea to start with this exam and start training as a happy, healthy person.

Below you find a short summary of the different courses and what you can do once you attain a certain license.

Private Pilot License

The first step towards independence as a pilot, is the Private Pilot License (PPL). This course contains at least 45 hours of practical training and 7 theoretical subjects and exams. Part of the PPL is learning to communicate over the radio and an English proficiency test. When you have attained your PPL, you can legally take a helicopter up in the air all by yourself. Friends and family will love to fly with you!

Pilot in Command hour-building (PIC)

Between getting your PPL and starting the CPL training you will need to gather about 100 hours of experience as a helicopter pilot. Family and friends most certainly will love to come flying with you but a large chunk of this hour-building might be done with our help by executing ferry flights (for a reduced price) and advanced training. This could include landing in confined areas, at larger airports with traffic control or at airfields abroad.

Commercial Pilot License

Flying in itself is great, but you want to make a living out of it. To work as pilot, you will need a Commercial Pilot License (CPL). You have gained some experience as a helicopter pilot, the practical training will now challenge you beyond the PPL level and an additional 13 theoretical subjects will give you more in-depth understanding of everything that's going on. The medical exam is also of a higher level. Class 2 is no longer sufficient, for CPL you need a Class 1 medical.

Airline Transport Pilot License

To get a career as a professional pilot you want to work at the larger companies that fly out to the oil rigs or windfarms at the North Sea or something similar. In this case you will need an Airline Transport Pilot License which is practically the same as CPL, just 1 extra theoretical subject and overall the theory will be of a higher level. Necessary is also the Instrument Rating, this means you can fly on Instrument Flight Rules and not just on Visual Flight Rules. Not seeing what you do but trusting your instruments to get you to where you want to be requires quite a bit of extra training. For ATPL a Class 1 medical is mandatory.

Grading CPL and ATPL

To be able to give you the best advise we will have you do a series of tests before you start our training program. This so-called grading provides us with a good indication of your physical and psychological abilities and the level you might reach in your flying career. Based on your grading we can outline a study plan that is suitable for you and indicate what the costs of the education turn out to be.

I got my license! ....now what?

Getting your license is the start. As you gain some experience, you will still have questions or specific wishes. Our instructors are always available for advise or information. We also provide advanced training tailormade to your wishes. E.g. if you want to land at a particular place or fly a route under supervision of an instructor.